Historical Coherence of Reason (Ontological Postulate)
Structural Principle
Postulate – Historical Coherence of Reason:
Pure reason cannot ignore what reason itself previously instituted in the form of validated knowledge. This means that reason cannot operate as an absolute instance, detached from its material and methodological history — because all scientific knowledge is already a product of reason operating according to internal rules of consistency, testability, and validation.
Commentary and Framing within the Ontology of Emergent Complexity
This postulate constitutes a permanent guiding principle of the Ontology of Emergent Complexity. It rejects the idea of an isolated, pure, or transcendental reason, reaffirming that every rational gesture is conditioned by its own operative history: thinking, deciding, and validating always implies working upon what is already inscribed, upon inherited structures, methodological markers, and previously tested results.
Thus, there is no rational act that can completely sever ties with the past: every rupture is also a reinscription and transformation of what is already instituted. The criterion of rational validity includes not only internal coherence but also critical integration with the historical trajectory of thought, science, and material experience.
In the Ontology of Emergent Complexity, this historical coherence is understood as an operative gradient: reason advances not through absolute negation of the previous, but through differential reorganization, iterative inscription, and symbolic transformation of the history of knowledge itself.
State of Matter
Stabilized Principle
Notes on Relation
- Relates to epistemic criteria, scientific methodology, and the history of validation systems.
- Founds the rejection of absolute ruptures, advocating continuity and symbolic transformation.
- Critiques both traditional dogmatism and contemporary irrationalism.
- Basis for all ethical, scientific, and philosophical positioning in the OCE.